To put it mildly, the Mississippi State Bulldogs are having agood time in Memphis. MSU head coach Sylvester Croom brought histeam in early for this Saturday’s Liberty Bowl. The Bulldogs wereallowed to stay out late Monday and Tuesday to 2 a.m. as theycelebrated Christmas away from home.

Defensive tackle Jessie Bowman of Brookhaven and safety JasperO’Quinn of Bude, along with the rest of the Bulldogs, are enjoyingtheir week-long stay in Memphis. In the daytime, they are busypracticing and preparing for the Central Florida Knights ofConference USA. Kickoff is 3:30 p.m.

The MSU team watched the Memphis Grizzlies play Wednesdaynight.

“Everything is fine and we are having a great time,” saidBowman. A 6-foot-1, 305-pound junior. He’ll be wearing No. 94Saturday.

“Memphis is different than Starkville, ” said Bowman. “There area lot of things to do. We are looking forward to the Liberty Bowl.We are fired up and ready to play.”

Certainly, the Bulldogs can’t overlook Central Florida.

“Central Florida is a good team,” said Bowman. “They have agreat running back (Kevin Smith). He’s big and he runs itwell.”

So, how do you stop the 6-foot-1, 211-pound super sophomoreSmith who leads the nation in rushing with 2,448 yards?

“We have to play assignment football,” answered Bowman. “Ifeverybody does their job, we should come out on top.”

Bowman and O’Quinn both played for Copiah-Lincoln CommunityCollege last season as sophomores. They helped the Co-Lin Wolfpackto a No. 6 national ranking, a 9-3 record and a 21-0 victory overGeorgia Military School in the Golden Isles Classic in Brunswick,Ga.

For sure, O’Quinn and Bowman have made big contributions at MSUthis season. They have helped lead the Bulldogs to a 7-5 record andtheir first bowl trip since 2000.

“I’ve had a good year,” said Bowman. “It’s been fun.”

For the record, Bowman has made 23 tackles this season, 3 ofthem for losses.

Bowman and O’Quinn are both featured on the MSU Media Bowl Guidecover. O’Quinn will wear No. 24 Saturday.

O’Quinn is another JUCO success story. Coming out of FranklinCounty High School, O’Quinn signed a scholarship with Delta StateUniversity. He started for the Statesmen as a freshman but he hadhigher goals.

“We are practicing hard and having a good time,” said O’Quinn(5-10, 185). “Memphis is a lot of fun. It’s different.”

Like Bowman predicted, O’Quinn said the key to beating CentralFlorida is halting the rush. “Central Florida is a great runningteam. They don’t pass a lot. We have to stop their run and playhard.

“I think our defense will match up with them,” O’Quinn added.”We have to play hard, just like we do every week.”

Asked about his favorite Memphis experience, O’Quinn said theBulldogs got to rub elbows with a popular rap group. “We got tohang out with 3-Six Mafia. We had a good time.”

O’Quinn said he was confident he could land a starting job atMSU, coming out of Co-Lin. “I felt like if I came in and workedhard, I could be a starter. I just had to focus and keep my mindright.”

For the season, O’Quinn started 6 games. He collected 33tackles, including 21 solo stops. He also intercepted a passagainst Tennessee.

His cousin, Mike Hunt of Franklin County, was a 2007 MSUsignee.

Mississippi State sold its allotted number of tickets for theLiberty Bowl and the game is sold out.

Meanwhile, at Alabama, Brookhaven product Jimmy Johns has beenmoved to weakside linebacker. Johns played sparingly at quarterbackand running back as a freshman when the Crimson Tide won 10 games,including a Cotton Bowl victory. Last season, the Tide finished 6-7losing to Oklahoma State in the Independence Bowl. Johns was mainlyat running back.

This season, under new head coach Nick Saban, the Tide is adisappointing 6-6 again. Johns was used almost exclusively as abackup fullback. He had 17 rushes for 76 yards and 1 touchdown. Healso caught 3 passes for 41 yards.

He starred on special teams so his hard-nosed tackles caught theeye of Saban and his staff. Johns will work at weakside linebackerin Sunday’s Independence Bowl.

“I love linebacker,” said Johns. At 6-foot-2 and 240 pounds,Johns is a perfect size for linebacker.

Alabama will try to redeem itself with a victory over Colorado,another 6-6 squad. Kickoff is 7 p.m. Sunday night in Shreveport,La.

Write to sports editor Tom Goetz, c/o The DAILY LEADER, P.O.BOX 551, Brookhaven, MS 39602 or e-mailsports@dailyleader.com